User Reviews

SONGS: "Rock of Ages", "Sing, Boy, Sing", "Gonna Talk with My Lord", "Who Baby?", "Crazy 'Cause I Love You", "Bundle of Dreams", "Your Daddy Wants to Do Right", "Just a Little Bit More", "That's All I Want from You", "People In Love", "Soda-Pop Song", "Would I Love You", "How About You".

Copyright 1958 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Mayfair: 21 February 1958. U.S. release: January 1958. U.K. release: 18 May 1958. Australian release: 10 July 1958. 8,135 feet. 90 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Virgil Walker, raised in the South by his Revivalist- preaching grandfather and aunt, is taken in tow by an unscrupulous manager who builds him into a guitar-swinging, rock 'n' roll teenage idol. He scores a tremendous success at New York's Roxy Theatre, to the squealing delight of his thousands of fans, and goes on to make many hit recordings and eventually lands a Hollywood picture contract. Despite his fame and fortune, however, Virgil is lonesome, and "hires" a teenage companion, C. K. Judd, a swingin', hep character who hangs by Virgil's coat tails of success wherever they go. When Virgil's grandfather is stricken by a heart attack, Sharkey, the manager, and Fisher, his press agent, keep the news from him for fear the boy will return to a life of preaching, a long-standing aim of the boy's grandfather. But Virgil discovers the truth and returns to the South.

NOTES: Film debut of Tommy Sands.

Oddly, Ephron doesn't even mention the film in his autobiography, even though it's the only movie he ever directed.

Paul Monash's story "The Singin' Idol" was originally the basis of a television play on Kraft Playhouse.

COMMENT: Move over, Elvis, here comes Tommy Sands! They've even blown the dust off that old warhorse "The Jazz Singer" to give Tommy his big chance — not to mention at least two dozen other pictures including Presley's own "Loving You" and "Jailhouse Rock".

Despite his impressive list of producing and writing credits, Ephron's direction is completely undistinguished. True, he wouldn't be encouraged by Binyon's typically wordy and slow-moving script (though, if you can last that long, the final half-hour has a somewhat bizarre quality that doubtless derives from Monash's original). But if it comes to a decision, Ephron is the duller of the two.

Photography and other credits are no more than adequate. Not that the fans will notice. Fans? Does Tommy Sands have fans? I've never met one. In my time, I've talked with a few thousand Elvis fans, but never a one for Tommy Sands. No, not a single one! (And if this dreadful movie is a fair sample of what young Sands dishes out, that's hardly surprising).

In re to the poster above, funny that they should be so upset about stereotypes & then turn around at the end of their comments & make a stereotypical comment about there being "no Christians in Hollywood." There are plenty of Christians in Hollywood today & I am certain there were in 1958 as well. After all, where did all of the people who came to Hollywood in the forties & fifties come from? Mainstream USA. Pull up a list of actors & actresses then or now, & many, if not most, come from the South, Southwest, Midwest, etc. Do the names Sandra Bullock (TX), George Clooney (OH), Julia Roberts (GA), or Brad Pitt (MO), ring a bell? (Not to say they are or are not Christians, which is not the point, just that they come from fairly regular towns where Christianity is practiced as the majority.) Beyond that, I found the movie to be fairly entertaining & well done. I couldn't help but think of Elvis throughout & as posted earlier, that some of the ideas put forth were certainly risqué for the time. You have to put the movie in the context of the day when the battle was raging over rock n roll music as it became the mainstream music of the day. Before that time, mainstream churches probably did not make a big deal over the quartet singers or Rosemary Clooney. I couldn't say for certain. But rock n roll was a big change & a big issue across the U.S., not just in the South. And remember, religion was a factor. The U.S. saw major church growth in the 1950s for Protestants. The movie presents the issue & the angst well that no doubt was an issue for many during that era. It also brings to light the futility of fame and/or fortune when there is no deeper meaning behind it. Luckily, Virgil struggled through it & learned who he could trust & to value his friends & family. We see so many stars today in permanent tailspins because they have shut out all family support which is extremely lonely as experienced by Virgil in the film. On a lighter note, the music is enjoyable, & Tommy Sands is impressive in the role. Definitely worth a watch. I caught it on FMC recently.